Fight or Flight
by Grace Humphry
Summary: Fear is a survival reflex that triggers a fight or flight response. When Edward finally meets the girl he's been talking to over Skype for the last four years, will he fight or flee when he finds her life to be everything a person could fear? All Human
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

><p>It had always been a thought wedged just behind my forehead sitting comfortably on the cusp of my brain – Seattle.<p>

Checking my bank statements and feeling out the possibilities of steady service demand. I had built a following for Seattle; I had worked at many a celebrity party and charity gala in Chicago making sure not to get stuck in the homecoming, prom, and bar mitzvah scene. I had a made a name for myself, I was called The Eclipse in the music world.

If you really wanted to analyze it I guess you could say I became a "celebrity" DJ for her. I just wanted to be close to her.

We'd been talking for four years. Ever since she had just turned 17 and I 20 we had been talking almost every other day. We talked about everything… except her life. It wasn't a drawn in the sand line I couldn't cross. I never pointed it out but even though she told me blips of her family and friends and was honest with her thoughts she was really good at evading. I knew nothing of how she spent her day or what she wanted to do, if she had any rituals she followed. She knew all these things about me. It wasn't fair.

I just wanted to know her.

It was in the early hours of the morning when I had gone on Chatroulette, strictly out of boredom and horniness (girls feel much more free to flash their tits over webcam than in person). I was flipping through the mecca of penises when I stopped my steady clicking to see a brown haired girl with very heavy eye makeup that she was cleaning off with a baby wipe being assisted by the biggest dog I had ever seen. Her smile for the brute was blinding.

My mother was terrified of dogs so I had never known living with one. The idea of having their tongue on her person was one of my mother's main reasons for the aversion and yet this girl accepted it quite freely and willingly.

So I decided to tactfully say hello. My mic was on mute and from what I could tell so was hers so I greeted textually.

**You**: What the hell is that?

She laughed and had to reach her arm over the dog to type a response.

**Stranger**: It's called a dog.

**You**: Looks like a fuckin' bear wolf hybrid.

She rolled her eyes at me

**Stranger**: It's called a Malamute.

She threw the baby wipes marked with black and red in the trash bin beside her. She jotted down a few notes on a pad next to her.

**You**: What's his name?

She looked up at the bing and typed a response.

**Stranger**: Billy.

The dog was practically in her lap now. From the looks of it she appeared to be sitting on the edge of a bed.

**You**: How old is he?

**Stranger**: As old as me.

I shot her an annoyed look.

**Stranger**: 17.

**You**: Is that normal?

**Stranger**: Nope.

**Stranger**: Dogs are weird though. They kind of defy normal time lines and behaviors.

**Stranger**: Do you have a dog?

**You**: No. My mom hates them. She thinks they're gross.

**Stranger**: I could see how someone could think that.

Even as she responded her eyes were on the big Billy, typing with one hand and the other playing with his ear.

**You**: What do you mean about dogs defying normal time lines and shit?

**Stranger**: Well, I think Billy's lived this long to take care of me. You always read stories in the paper and "based on a true story" movies about these amazing bonds dogs have with people. I think it's true. I've watched enough documentaries to know that they have been breed over hundred and hundreds of years to love us unconditionally.

**You**: Nothing can love unconditionally.

**Stranger**: Dogs can.

**You**: I bet if you stopped feeding him he'd leave.

She stopped petting the dog to type with both hands.

**Stranger**: One time when I was about four or five I went out into the shed to fill the dog dish. As I came out I tripped over a poorly laid brick and I fell hitting my knee and sending the dog food across the path. Billy came and sat down next to me, not even glancing at the kibble on the ground and licked my tears away as I cried. Even when I got up to sweep the food back into the bowl he just stood by my side paying attention to the knee I had landed on. I placed the food bowl in it's usual place and yet he still didn't eat a single bit of it until my dad had gotten me some Cheez Itz, a juice box, and I was sitting comfortably in my chair watching Elmo's World.

**You**: That's quite a story.

**Stranger:** It's true.

In the video chat I could see her glaring at me and I couldn't help but smile. Her eyes were crinkled and her nose all scrunched up with this damn fluffy monster thing of a dog sticking its tongue in her ear.

**You**: You're cute.

**Stranger**: You're scruffy.

I ran my hand across my jaw and felt the stubble coming in.

**You**: Good thing you aren't.

**Stranger**: You should be indifferent to such things.

**You**: Why do you say that?

**Stranger**: I'm just a girl you saw on the Internet; I have no name to you except for stranger. Physical appearance practically means nothing when you'll never meet a person.

**You**: Who says we'll never meet?

**Stranger**: Me.

**Stranger**: Common sense.

**You**: I wouldn't be so sure; we've got a whole lot of life to live. I bet we could meet sometime.

Stranger: Why, so you could meet the dog freak in person?

**You**: No, so I could meet you in person.

**You**: The name's Edward.

**Stranger**: Bella.

**You**: You gotta Skype?

Four the next four years I learned about her thoughts and her character and eventually, her last name. Swan. Her name was Isabella Swan from Seattle.

I had to meet her.


	2. Miscalculation

Miscalculation

* * *

><p>I intentionally hadn't told her. I don't really know why. Perhaps I was diluted into thinking it could be some romcom worthy surprise. She'd just fall into my arms and we'd live happily ever after. I think girls tend to think that men are just hormonal monsters with little feeling or romance. Maybe, men are more romantic than women. Sure, we date around and we have a tendency to forget faces, names, and birthdays and at first focus in on the chestal regions. It's what we do to spend our time while we try to find the only.<p>

I think I knew Bella was the right girl when I saw her smile. Or, maybe I just really wanted her to be.

The first night in Seattle I dropped my suitcase off at my new place on second avenue. With the movers coming in the morning I had times to appreciate the almost cathedral like tranquility with its simmering expectation of what this new chapter would bring. The calm before the storm...

I tossed my duffle in the corner of the living space, expecting if I were to get any sleep at all I'd be too wrecked to care if I had a mattress or a canvas lump. The doorman, Banner, he was ace. He watched my van while I was separating living stuffs and work stuff that I needed to take with me, even gave me directions to the Four Seasons where the party was being held.

Jane Vino had booked the penthouse in the Four Seasons. I had seen her here or there at Gala's and such in New York and few in Chicago. I remember my friend Maggie telling me how her dad changed their surname from Colafranceschi to Vino after he bought out the bankrupting vineyards in Tuscany, Napa, and the Oregon Valley. "He's trying to discreetly say, 'I _am_ wine. So don't even try motherfucker,' without actually staking claim on every vineyard from here to Australia. I hear he's headed there next."

"What's the point of monopolizing the grapes?" I asked.

"Don't you know? Money don't grow on trees but sure as fuck grows on vines. He wants the money vines. He's also a big name in fine Italian food on the west coast. Owns shit ton of restaurants from San Diego all the way up to the Olympic Peninsula. Family business or something he has brothers in on it.

"I feel for his kid though. So much money and so many things to spend it on." She laughed and took a swig of Patron from my flask. Vino had sponsored so the only drinks at the event were regionally kicker grape juices.

"I suppose it keeps a wife happy."

"Nah, my aunt used to be friends with her before Mrs. Vines died, they went to school together in London for awhile. What was her name? It was something Greek or Latin…ah! Sulpicia! Her father is some world renowned Classics Professor at Cambridge, that's where she met Aro I think. Named the daughter Jane, to counter balance the oddities of her own. Freak boat accident or something in the French Rivera. I remember Siobhan dragging me to the funeral. Janie was just a little girl then." We casted out eyes on the small blonde 14-year-old at the time, she was holding a full glass of Shiraz like it was a cup of Kool Aid.

"That's too bad." I muttered.

However, the music was what young Jane Vino loved most about that party so when she heard I was coming to Seattle she booked me for my very first night in.

Outside the hotel I changed my shirt so as not to smell completely like I'd been stuck in a van eating Doritos for five days straight. As I fumbled around the back a knock came from the window. I was expecting it to be a hotel manager telling me couldn't have my hippie-tastic van outside their five star hotel, so I rolled my neck and tried to smooth down my hair before I jumped out the back.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! It's The Eclipse! You're here!"

In my lunacy and ache for human interaction that involved more than the greeting grunts truckers give you in gas stations I joined in. "You must be Jane Vino!"

"Yeah I _am!_" It was quite comical me with my gaunt face and her with the enormous rollers in her hair screaming outside the Four Seasons. But hey, you only live once.

"Oh," she pointed to four guys in black standing behind her, "These are the security team slash booth put togetherers."

We greeted each other with the chin lift, nod thing that is just so much chiller than a handshake. I wouldn't even be able to shake their hand because Jane had already grabbed mine and pulled my through the door. I had enough time to hand my keys to the biggest guy who was a fricken' monster, 6'7" tops, and whisper, "Everything in the back goes up and just lock her up when everything's out."

In the elevator on the way up she refreshed me on what she was expecting, "Look, this party is _the_ party. It's not any kind of Sweet 16 MTV bullshit because this party ain't for anyone's birthday it's for me because I want one. That's what the vibe has to be like and that's why I needed to find the perfect DJ. Only the hottest of Seattle is coming and some high school friends of mine but only cause they'd die if I didn't invite them. Are you single?" She pauses to raise glance at me.

"Yes?" I laugh warily.

"Oh good! Like even if you did have a girlfriend I would lie because girls dance for hot single DJ's. People must dance at this party! People need to meet at this party and fall in love. Lives need to start and end at this party. This is how I will live forever E, I need to throw the most killer parties because I can't die the Wine girl." I was a bit startled at how serious this conversation had become and how hungry her eyes grew.

Even with all her grown up dreams and aspirations with her hair falling slightly out of the rollers and her eyes so big and blue begging me to save her from her father's empire, she looked like such a little girl.

Little girls need saving every once in awhile.

"Don't worry J," I said picking up on our official new pet names, "No one will forget this party."

Boy, was that an understatement.

The hulk man from the van was my main aid in setting up the booth electronically. This time I shook his hand in greeting. "Hey, I'm…"

"The Eclipse. I know. Ms. Vino has kept us well informed. I'm Felix. My jobs tonight are to keep an eye on Ms. Vino and to help you with what ever you need."

This being our first initial meeting I tried not to be too wary. I couldn't get a good read on him. I couldn't tell if perhaps I was prejudice against his intimidating stature with it being five inches taller than mine along with his small, black eyes that made him look so menacing or if there was something really off about him. When Jane would come up to briefly chat with me or give instruction the corners of his mouth would twist up in a grin that added with his curly black hair made him appear like an oversized child. It was making me feel edgy but I couldn't tell if it was real or just because of mixing drinks.

Jane being the doll that she is had the bartender refill my flask with Patron, remembering my drink of choice the last time we met.

The party started at seven and was kind of slow. So I let some prerecorded stuff play saving my juice for when the party really kicked into full swing. I pulled out my IPhone while I was drinking some Red Bull to pull up Skype, just to see if she was on.

She was.

**Edward Masen Jr.: **Bellaaaaaaaaaa

**Bella Swan:** Yes, dear?

**Edward Masen Jr.: ** Tell me something.

**Bella Swan:** I hate when you do this.

**Edward Masen Jr.: ** Do what? ;)

**Bella Swan:** You know what.

**Bella Swan:** Always trying to get me to entertain you.

**Bella Swan:** What happens when I run out of things to say?

**Edward Masen Jr.: **Impossible.

**Bella Swan:** How so?

**Edward Masen Jr.:** You're one of those rare infinitely interesting people.

**Bella Swan: **Saying things like that will get you in trouble.

**Edward Masen Jr.:** With who?

**Bella Swan: **My life.

**Edward Masen Jr.:** What an interesting name. Is that your imaginary friend?

**Bella Swan:** Worse, he's my imaginary husband.

**Bella Swan:** Good thing he's amazing in bed.

**Edward Masen Jr.: **Always such a dirty girl… ;)

**Bella Swan: ** Now I'm really going to get in trouble with my imaginary hubby. Look, I have to get back to him for a few hours. I'll talk to later, kay? Bye Junior.

**Edward Masen Jr.: **You're going to get in trouble with ME if you ever call me that again. It's officially coming of my name.

**Bella Swan:** Bye Edward.

**Edward Masen Jr.: **Bye Bella.

I took an extra long swig from my flask and made it back to my booth. This time I dedicated all of my concentration. It was party time.

A girl named Tia came to the party drunk, I thought perhaps she might one the few high schoolers Jane and spoken about. She would come up to the booth completely wrecked and start balling when I didn't give her full eye contact.

"Why does Jane get everything? She wept and her mascara ran down her copper skin.

With my head phones wedged between my ear and my shoulder and my fingers still on the switchboard I played therapist.

"It's cause her daddy's got money, honey."

"I'm so much smarter and nicer than her but no one ever comes to my parties. I'm on fucking scholarship and my parents are IT analysts!"

"At this age what matters are the parties." I winked at some girl who was hanging off in the corner, trying to get more girls to dance like Jane wanted.

"It's not faaaaaaaaaair!" She draped her arm across her eyes as she threw he head back in despair.

"Just wait, you'll be more successful than her and making your own money so you can throw parties like this."

"I want to throw them NOW!"

"Well, maybe sometime I'll consider working pro bono."

It's like she sobered up in those five seconds. She dropped her head down to look at me with eyes wide and whispered, "Really?"

I nodded. I was tired of yelling over the speakers and my throat hurt.

She made a squeal very similar to the one Jane had made earlier in the evening and ran off in the direction of the bar. I hoped it was for cherries cause that girl did not need any more alcohol.

Jane walked passed her as Tia didn't her wobbly stiletto run. She looked at me and hooked a finger back at Tia, "What's up with her?"

"Nothing, I just told her I'd play her favorite song," I lied.

"That's sweet," she smiled.

"I can't say enough how glad I am that you came! I'm sure without you this party would be bust."

"Oh I don't know, I hear the food is pretty good," I teased. She shoved me in the arm a little and I chuckled. As I lifted my eyes to gauge the climate of the room my heart, fingers, and brain completely skipped.

The whole occurrence she just added to the romcom wish. I mean of all the nights, of all the places in one of the largest American metropolises - there she was.

I feel like the I Sight on our laptops had just put a gauzy screen over her. In person her skin was pearl not white, her hair wasn't auburn it was pure wildfire red flames mixing with scorched ember, her eyes were not black as they had appeared but brown perhaps a caramel when the light hit them just right. Her smile though was the real killer framed with lips painted red and teeth crisp as freshly fallen snow. What I felt was that only compared to seeing the stereotypical angelic light that falls through the clouds right after a heavy storm. The light that warmed Noah after the flood, it was her.

I picked my fingers back up and covered up my slip by molding it into a Gaga remix I had been working on for a while so I could watch her and learn.

She wasn't afraid to dance alone but she rarely had to, I noticed people were drawn to her. It made me feel better to know I wasn't the only one but also insanely jealous because I would dance with her if I wasn't chained to this booth.

She liked to dance with her hair, which was done in heavy curls. The dress she wore was black with these cap like sleeves. I would be a liar if I didn't acknowledge that I most definitely found her breasts to be magnificent. A couple times I thought she'd die from tripping over people in her heels but she managed pretty well, laughing off most incidence. My heart broke a tiny but when she danced with Tia who had just minutes before spilled her drink on herself.

When I couldn't take it any longer I found my own way to dance with her. I chose a song that I didn't particularly like but I knew the crowd would, I had even heard Bella humming it during one of our conversations.

The opening line hit the air I began to mix live.

_You were a problem child…_

Tia squealed and Bella threw her head back in an honest to goodness laugh. It felt so good to see it in real time and place. It was my last blissful moment of pure ignorance.

"Jane!" I called to the young blonde.

She tottled over to me definitely affected by the Manhattan the she nested in her hand, "Whaaaaaa?"

I pointed with my nose towards Bella because I need the last confirmation before I made my move. "Who's that?"

"Garret's girl?"

This time my fingers kept going while my tongue froze.

"The brunette in the black dress?" she verified.

I nodded.

"Yeah, that's Bella, Garret Adam's girl, of Adam's construction they met while he was working at some ski lodge in Wyoming."

It was then that Bella's eyes focused in on the couch but I couldn't see at whom because of the crowd. She crooked her finger and wiggled her body just begging someone very specific to dance with her. Her smile broadened as a man who looked an awful lot like Thor came over to her.

My bliss wasn't completely crushed until he wrapped his arm around her waist and she reached up to pull him down for a kiss.

I wasn't real to her.

My affections were completely one sided.

She didn't love me.


	3. Misconstrued

Misconstrued

* * *

><p>"Don't looks so flippin' crushed E. There are plenty of single ladies who would totally go home with you tonight!" Jane consoled as the whiskey in her drink started to muddle her head.<p>

"But I want her."

She was dancing with him. Him. Grinding her body up and down his. He got to run his hand down her sides as much as he wished. Him.

As the party continued and it all became a blur as I was on autopilot all I could watch was the two of them dancing. My eyes were a camera lense with the edges blurred out but making my focus that much more defined.

I thought her smile was special. I thought it was just for me. Yet, she smiled at everyone and especially at him. Garrett.

When she got a little too drunk but still wanted to dance his was the body that she leaned against. When she became so drunk that he couldn't responsibly let her dance it was his lap she was curled up on in the lounge couches. She played with his shirt and his scruff and listened so intently to every word he was saying. I had never felt such a powerful need to terminate my own life until she did the final snuggle into the crook between his shoulder and his neck and just closed her eyes to smile.

The two of them just sat there, talking to Tia and Jane while everything else was being cleared away.

As the rest of my shit was getting packed up Felix turned to me with the strangest blank face, "She's a beauty isn't she?"

There was no mistake of who he was talking about especially now with Bella turned away from conversation, staring out at the dawn as it broke through the blue. "Yeah. She is," I sighed.

"She's real sweet too," he continued, "Always smiling at ya, never gets mad at anybody. Garrett's a lucky bastard. He found her weak spot though."

My brows furrowed as I regarded him, "Weak spot?"

He chuckled, "Yeah, Mr. Vino was setting up a new restaurant in Jackson Hole brought Bella with him cause she's apparently like a super hostess. She was supposed to meet with the architect to work out floor plans. She was late for that meeting cause the resort had sled dogs. Garret was following the noises of 30 barking dogs and found Bella standing in the middle of it all. He asked her out right then and of course she said no," he laughs at the memory, "He was just the big old Grizzly Adams wanna-be come out of the blue. Turns out he was the architect she had skipped the meeting with. Made it up to him by going to dinner. They've been together ever since. Two years? She was young maybe 19… he's a good six years older than she is."

"How do you know all this?" I took a swig of my flask. Their story sounded oddly familiar, a heart ensnared by a smile and her blasé attitude about dog slobber.

"Bella started working for Aro when she started school. Her dad worked on the company's online security systems cause Mr. Vino is super paranoid about people getting a hold of private information, leads on new money vines and such. Well during one of the meetings Bella had come home from school and I guess that was that. She never really had to do much, she just had to…"

"Smile at him," I finished.

He laughed deeper, "Yeah, well since then Aro's been sweet on her. Talks about her like a grandparent bragging about their grandkids. Jane still hasn't quite decided how she feels about her though."

I took a final glance at the couch where the small group conversed and Bella played on her phone lazily. I was wondering if I would be crazy to move back to Chicago after less than a day of officially being in Seattle when I heard the alert on my Skype app.

**Bella Swan:** Aren't you gonna come say hi?

I almost laughed when I saw her face all smooshed against couch smiling at me, her hair all a mess a top her head. I turned to Felix, "I'll be down in a minute."

As I strode over to the group Bella righted herself, wisely not wearing heels. The other three turned their heads to look at me. "Well, well, well, who do we have hear? Why it's Mr. Edward Masen from Chicago." She smiled some more and it tore my heart seeing it directed completely at me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and whispered, "Come here."

I was hoping in her embrace I would feel nothing.

Well, I sure felt something.

"Edward?" Jane sputtered, "You two know each other?"

Bella let go of me and backed away into the chest of Thor, "Yeah, we've been talking almost everyday for the last…wow, four years I guess. In all those conversations you never told me you were coming to Seattle."

I forced my hand up in a half assed jazz hand, "Surprise."

"Cute," she muttered.

There was low growl that rumbled in Garrett's chest to remind Bella or me of his presence I'm not sure. "Oh! Excuse my manners just a little tipsy and sleep deprived. Edward this," she points at the alpha male behind her, "is Garrett Adams, my boyfriend. Garrett this is Edward Masen my Skype buddy."

"Only you would call The Eclipse your Skype buddy," Jane sneered.

"The Eclipse?" Bella's eyes grew wide in wonderment. "I suppose there were quite a few things you didn't tell me."

I looked her dead even in the face and with no infliction at all said, "Ditto."

It was the first time her smile began to slump even the tiniest bit and it felt good. "What time is it?" she asked at no one directly.

"5:45," said Tia who had been feverishly texting only god knows who on her phone.

"Perfect," quipped Bella and she turned to Garrett, "You need to go home and sleep for a hour cause you have a 7:30 meeting with Caius," then back at me, "You're going to come to breakfast with me."

There was an air of hesitation from Garrett and I, she could sense it.

"Oh come on! I bet you don't know anything about Seattle and I can show you everything. I know this city like no other."

Tia pauses her communications only long enough to pipe up, "That's not even an exaggeration I mean Bella is fuckin' legend in…"

"Tia!" Jane cried shrilly before stomping off into one of the rooms to slam the door.

Tia cringes, "Sorry, you know how my mouth gets Bella…"

"I know," Bella sighs looking at the door that Jane had just teenage rampaged through, "It's not your fault. Jane just doesn't know exactly what she's wishing for. Go make up. I'll see you around."

The girl nods and follows after Jane like a dog with a tail between its legs.

I couldn't understand it all.

"Anyway," Bella continues, "I'm really craving some funky food and Gar, sorry, you're just not an adventurous eater and you really need sleep. Edward on the other hand is new and has a job in nightlife which means that he obviously knows breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Plus, I just have tons to ask you Edward let's do it over some Vietnamese."

She was just so awake even when I could the circles under her eyes darkening. She was so tired and yet she didn't want to go to sleep until she'd had some alone time with me. It gave me hope. Perhaps I could make her see I might be a better fit than this _Garrett._

He looks down at her and grabs her face, weaving his fingers in her hair and then looks over her at me. I was never sure if he saw my look of disgust before I morphed it. "You got a ride?" he asks me.

"Yeah," I whispered.

He grunted and leaned down to kiss her forcefully, I think it was pissing contest sort of deal because Bella seemed quite shocked by it.

"Well that was nice," she laughed. Garrett handed her her purse and shook my hand.

"I suspect we'll see each other soon," he says too me. The strength of his grip did not go unnoticed by me. Then he left through the elevator.

I turned to Bella who was taking flats out of her purse and replacing them with her heels. "How can they fit in there?" I ask.

She snorts, "I know, right? I call it my Mary Poppins bag. I could fit my apartment in here." She flung it over her shoulder, set and ready. "Direct me to you vehicle please."

It was strange being in such an enclosed space with her. It was good she seemed to never stop talking because I was staring at her mouth a lot. Most of the red lipstick had been rubbed off but some had stained her lips. They were bright as candied apples.

"Sick Mystery Machine," she drawled as she ran her finger down the purple paintjob of the VW.

I scratched my head as I opened the passenger door for her. She caught someone eye over my shoulder and shouted, "Bye guys!" to Felix and the others. Felix strolled over and handed me the keys.

Looking pointedly at the closed passenger door I could swear he murmured, "Lucky bastard."

I got in the drivers seat and started the car. "Where to?" I asked her.

"Turn right out of the parking lot."

While we were in the car the only speaking was her giving me directions. I think she was aware of my focus being elsewhere.

"Stop!" she screamed urgently outside of restaurant called Peg's. "This is the best parking spot! Get it!"

The funny thing was there were no other cars around.

I parked and she leg my inside what appeared to be a 50's diner. When we were seated and I could actually read the menu, I was shocked.

"Vietnamese food?" I asked.

"Didn't I say that's what we were getting?"

"I didn't think you were serious..."

She nodded her head fervently from across the table, "Tastes ten times better after a good party. No joke and they are open 24 hours. So amazing."

It was silent again as I read over the menu. A brunette waitress, almost as tall as I am, Angela, came by and had a conversation with Bella. From what I gathered they'd known each other a long time.

It was hard concentrating on the task at hand when the reason why I had come to Seattle was playing out in front of me. This was part of her everyday life. She was a regular where the staff knew her. They really _knew _her.

In a daze I said, "I'll have what she's having."

"Banh mi party is then!" Bella laughed.

"What's a banh mi?"

"It's a sandwich. Healthy enough to make you feel good but the bread's sturdy enough to soak up the party poison."

She ran her fingers through her hair and tossed back a glass of orange juices like a mega shot.

"Ya know," I whispered, "I never would have pegged you for a party girl."

She paused and narrowed her eyes, "I'm not a party girl."

"Could have fooled me." Even I couldn't deny the bitter that stained my tongue.

We assessed each other both very aware of the thickening of the air. "What are you doing here Edward? Seattle? If it was for work why wouldn't you go to LA?"

Her eyes were so big. They were sad and expectant and guarded, all I wanted to do was tell her the truth.

So I did.

Like a stone cold man I sat there, unmoving, "I came for you Bella. I love you"

"Stop saying silly things."

That's what she said to me.

Stop.

Saying.

Silly.

Things.

I exploded.

"Silly things? Bella we've been talking to each other almost every day for three years. You've made me think more about life than anyone ever has. You're so beautiful and your smile and I just. I had to know you. Even in all of those conversations you never mention _Garrett_. I know nothing about your family or what you do everyday and I came to Seattle so I can see it. I wanted to see what made you so wonderful. I want to be a part of it Bell."

"You don't know what you're saying," she was crying softly, "There are reasons why I don't talk about my life."

"Share them with me! Let me in." I reached for her hand across the table.

She let it rest there as she took a deep breath. "I couldn't do that to you. It's mine to bare. How can I unload on you my darkness if I can't handle it myself?"

I held her fingers tighter, "I'll help you."

I had hope. She looked up at me with eyes rimmed red and her lashes soaked heavy. She smiled a tad. It was then that our sandwiches were brought out wrapped in parchment paper, when she looked up at Angela and said, "Put it on my tab."

She flicked off my grip, grabbed her sandwich, and stood. Half way to the door she turned to me and said, "Go back to Chicago."

When the ringing of the bell on the door signaled her departure I slumped in my seat. This wasn't how this was supposed to go.

"Give her time," Angela said as she wiped down the table next to ours. "She's just having a hard time cause it's almost her birthday."

Looking up at Angela I asked her, "How do you know Bella?"

"She's my neice."

_What?_

_"_You two are so dramatic."


End file.
